Laying block floor techniques

[frediaz]

Hello,

I have been reading posts about laying wood floor and I wonder if anybody has advice about my particular flooring type:

Flooring is solid Teak, pre-finished with lacquer 18mm thick 400mm long, 90mm wide. T&G.
Subfloor is 22mm T&G chipboard on first floor joists. Level and firm. Thermal and acoustic insulation placed in joist space (new build). The house is not heated yet but is sealed.

Nailing puts me off because of fear of damaging the finish and splitting the tongues, as well as the cost of the gun and laying time.

Ta

 

[WoodYouLike]

Then your best option would be to glue it down. One thing though: does your chipboard contain a most repellent top layer? If so not all parquet adhesives will bond properly.

You have to use a notched trowel to spread the adhesive to your subfloor and make sure you have a dry non-fluffy cloth ready when you spill some of the adhesive on your pre-finished floor.

I would wait until the heating is on and install the floor only when the temperature inside is between 16 - 20 degrees Celsius otherwise the adhesive will again not bond correctly, nor will your wood be acclimatized and this could cause problems later on

 

[frediaz]

does your chipboard contain a most repellent top layer? If so not all parquet adhesives will bond properly.

I was thinking just that, it is moisture resistant chipboard so it has this smooth coating on top. I take it ordinary PVA may not stick properly, but would I have to glue the tongues and grooves (with PVA) too?

As for the temperature, I could use an electric heater to raise the temperature while I install it (the house is well insulated) but will get colder afterwards.

The adhesives in your link are quite expensive, in all honesty the Elastilon product would work out cheaper and they say one does not have to acclimatise the wood first, but has anybody used it successfully with block flooring?

 

[WoodYouLike]

Ordinary PVA will not do the job. when you glue down the wood you don't need to glue the T&G's.

If you can buy Elastilon for less than £7.00 a square meter you're buying a copy-cat. The Mapei works out at around £ 6.90 per sq m. If you are not used to working with Elastilon glueing down is the simpler option for you.

All wood needs to acclimatise before installation - any one who tells you differently is wrong (I hesitate to say is a cowboy )

Installing a floor in a warm room and then leaving it to go colder for a long period of time is asking for trouble.

 

[frediaz]

By the way, I forgot to say that I am installing the flooring in brickwork format, not in criss-cross shape like parquet flooring.

About the temperature, without meaning to argue, if you go away on a long holiday during the winter, the house will get as cold as outside so this will eventually happen anyhow.

The thing about not having to acclimatise the wood I read in the Elastilon website

 

[WoodYouLike]

About the temperature, without meaning to argue, if you go away on a long holiday during the winter, the house will get as cold as outside so this will eventually happen anyhow.

Not in my house it doesn't. Heating always on at least minimum temperature of 14 - 15 degrees. Going on holiday and not taking these kinds of precautions could mean: mould, burst pipes, buckling new wood floors.

The thing about not having to acclimatise the wood I read in the Elastilon website

On which page? Plus have you read this:
The space for installation needs to be completely empty and clean. The relative humidity needs to be between 40% and 65%. Temperature should be at least 16°C.

 

[frediaz]

The thing about not having to acclimatise the wood I read in the Elastilon website

On which page?

On their demonstration video, but now I think that the Mapei stuff may be better for my application. I hope it is true that it gives dampening that you would not get by nailing the floors directly to the chipboard. It says min temperature 10 deg

 

[mattysupra]

i think you need to listen/understand what woody is trying to tell you!

P.s- you cant nail to chipboard! And yes they may state there UNDERLAY is stable at 10c etc, but what about the wood? I think not.

 

[frediaz]

Does anybody know what is the resulting thickness of the Mapei Ultrabond P990?

 

[WoodYouLike]

Depends on the trowel you use.